Create a beautiful bed

Friday

This summer, why not finally make your bedroom into the oasis you deserve?

A fun and simple place to start is with your bedding. I've asked Kathy, Marla and Macy, our talented team of designers at Nell Hill's Briarcliff, to share how you can make yours fabulous.

First, make sure you are still in love with your bed. Is it in good condition? Does it fit the scale of your room? Does it match your decorating style? If not, maybe it's time to shop for one that steals your heart. At Nell Hill's, our all-time best sellers are metal framed beds because they are sturdy, timeless and so versatile they fit with just about any decor. Our customers are also crazy about our upholstered headboards right now.

Before you dress your bed, outfit it in the nicest sheets your budget will allow. For me, there's nothing better than crisp white sheets tricked up with lovely trim because they look clean and fresh and go with every bedding ensemble.

When our designers set out to create a bedding ensemble, they pick one piece that inspires the entire look of the bed. It could be a wonderful pillow or blanket. Whatever you pick will determine the kinds of fabrics, patterns and colors you'll use in the rest of your bedding.

Our designers wanted to create a soft, romantic summer look. Marla and Kathy picked a reversible matelasse quilt in navy and white as the inspiration piece. We've been using matelasse quilts on our beds for years because they are attractive, affordable and durable. The more you wash them, the softer they become, which makes them ideal for young families and others who need easy-care linens.

For our sample bed, we paired our quilt with a tailored bed skirt made of cream linen. A white eyelet lace or navy bed skirt would also look wonderful with the ensemble.

One of the Nell Hill's tricks for creating a beautiful bed is to fold down the quilt and sheet. Kathy folded the quilt down about 12 inches. Then, she folded about 3 or 4 inches of the top sheet over the quilt. Having a bit of the blanket and sheet show makes the bed feel more inviting.

Dan used to call our bed "pillow hell" because I covered it with so many accent pillows. These days, I like a simpler, more edited look on my bed.

At Nell Hill's, we like to use euro shams for our first and second layers of pillows. For a queen-sized bed, these 27-inch squares are great to rest against when you're reading and provide a lovely base for your pillow ensemble. We use down inserts in our pillows at the store because they give the pillows heft and shape, yet are soft and luxurious. For the back layer of our sample bed, the designers used a pair of custom euros that featured navy-blue velveteen fabric on one side, and eggshell silk cording and white cotton quilting on the back. Just flip them over and you have an entirely different look.

To carry on the soft, romantic summer look we wanted on our sample bed, Kathy and Macy added to-die-for white linen pillows with a large eyelet lace ruffle - a wonderful contrast to the navy pillows right behind them. I like how this double layer of euros gives the bedding depth and allows you to introduce another fabulous combination of fabrics and trims. Be sure to pick four or five different fabrics for your accent pillows, each one from a different group, like menswear plaids, toile, ticking, solids, florals, checks or stripes. Then, mix up the finishes on the pillows. Some of our favorite treatments are cording, flat flanges with pleated or mitered corners, knife pleats and gathered ruffles. I also love to put buttonholes in the end of pillows or duvets, then dress them up with buttons covered in an accent fabric.

Your third layer of pillows should be the show-stealers. For our example, the designers used two custom-made 24-inch square pillows in a navy-and-white damask, finished in navy cording. The stunning pillows incorporate both colors in our palette and, thanks to their bold pattern, really pop out from the solid-colored base pillows below.

Finish off with a fun or funky pillow, like a 16- by 30-inch white lace pillow that has "Be Our Guest" embroidered on it in cream thread - perfect for a guest room.

We always add a quilt or duvet at the bottom of our beds to give the ensemble one more interesting layer and to break up the expanse of the base blanket. Normally, we don't use two matelasse quilts on one bed, opting instead to use a quilt-and-duvet combo. But this time, we couldn't resist a solid navy matelasse quilt because it looked so fabulous at the foot of our two-toned bed.

Since all of us at Nell Hill's have a soft spot for adorable pillows, we toss a few extra accents at the foot of the bed, just for fun.

Scripps Howard News Service

Mary Carol Garrity owns the Nell Hill’s stores in Atchison and Kansas City, Mo., and blogs at nellhillsblog.com. She can be reached at marycarol@nellhills.com.

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